Consistency vs Intensity

Welcome everyone and talked about

Hot dog in the park on the 31th

Big thanks to everyone who was praying for while gone to camp

and Nate Cable and Michelle!!

This year a camp it was not only my first time being in charge I had help my

Bird funeral

Walker found a baby bird at camp. - Picture

Between him and some girls from Trinity

they keep him alive

unfortunately He didn’t make it all the way back to the church

and me and walker has a funeral for him - Picture

Walker has a beautiful heart for animals and was a great with his bird.

I had the honor of doing NYC interview at camp with a few other amazing people.

Talk about NYC (NAZARENE YOUTH CONFERENCE )

I meet with some amazing teens that are just hungry for the Lord.

We asked these questions

Why do you want to participate in NYC 2023?

What has your Journey with God looked like?

In what ways will you seek to grow in your personal walk with God during this event?

Some of the come backs we got was so good.

I loved having the chances to help encourage these students with their walk with Jesus.

Girl with ADHD that felt she was spending time with God wrong. * story of telling about myself

I am a REV! And I in charge of this whole camp!!

Camp is so many things. It stressful and a lot of up all nights and no sleep.

There is a ton of yelling.

I felt like I was alway yell and hyping kids up

It makes for a huge INTENSE Moments.

We just go and go

And it all for God!!

I think that is a great thing and can be helpful in so many ways.

I would call camp intense for sure. It not as intense as NYC, but it right up there.

One of the things that I think about the most as a youth pastor is what can this intense moment do for my students and for the Adults that are around.

If you been around the church you know there a thing called camp hight and church camp crash!

The intense is so much that when they get back from camp they are a camp high.

It doesn’t take to long for the crash to show up.

These kids go back to family who could care less if Jesus is apart of their day

I live that home life!

I was embarrassed to even tell me grandparents when I got saved because I was worried about what they would say.

I felt the pressure to not get caught praying in my room.

I loved the high I got from camp and I wanted to just stay in the world of camp and what it gave as far as that intense feeling!!

We can’t live on intense feeling alone when it comes to our spiritual life.

Trust me I am an extrovert I am all for the intense of life. One of my favorite things to do is ride our seadon out at Lake Murry.

I like to think going 65 miles an hour on the water is what quite time looks like.

The intense of Camp had been on my mind for some time and as I was reading about the camp high and crashes.

Aaron Moses’s bestie AKA Moses Brother

has what I would call a huge intense moment in his life.

Aaron and Moses get to hang out with God.

Our focus is on Aaron becasue Aaron is known for a big mistake he made in he ….?

But before Aaron became the first pawn shop he had some time with God.

Exodus 24:1–11 (The Message): 24 He said to Moses, “Climb the mountain to God, you and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. They will worship from a distance; only Moses will approach God. The rest are not to come close. And the people are not to climb the mountain at all.”

3  So Moses went to the people and told them everything God had said—all the rules and regulations. They all answered in unison: “Everything God said, we’ll do.”

4–6  Then Moses wrote it all down, everything God had said. He got up early the next morning and built an Altar at the foot of the mountain using twelve pillar-stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he directed young Israelite men to offer Whole-Burnt-Offerings and sacrifice Peace-Offerings of bulls.

Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls; the other half he threw against the Altar.

7  Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it as the people listened. They said, “Everything God said, we’ll do. Yes, we’ll obey.”

8  Moses took the rest of the blood and threw it out over the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has made with you out of all these words I have spoken.”

9–11  Then they climbed the mountain—Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel—and saw the God of Israel. He was standing on a pavement of something like sapphires—pure, clear sky-blue. He didn’t hurt these pillar-leaders of the Israelites: They saw God; and they ate and drank.

Aaron and some other people have this intense moment with God!

Aaron has the camp high! Gets to be around God! Just as Moses did.

But then God just wanted Moses

Exodus 24:12–14 (The Message): God said to Moses, “Climb higher up the mountain and wait there for me; I’ll give you tablets of stone, the teachings and commandments that I’ve written to instruct them.” So Moses got up, accompanied by Joshua his aide. And Moses climbed up the mountain of God.

14  He told the elders of Israel, “Wait for us here until we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you; if there are any problems, go to them.”

interesting enough the people had problems But I don’t think it was what Moses thought might have.

They get upset cuz Moses is spending to much time with Go!

While God and Moses and taking about Instructions on the Mountain:

One being the ten commandments!

Aaron is down at the campsite making a mess.

Exodus 32:1–8 (The Message): 1  32 When the people realized that Moses was taking forever in coming down off the mountain, they rallied around Aaron and said, “Do something. Make gods for us who will lead us. That Moses, the man who got us out of Egypt—who knows what’s happened to him?”

2–4  So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me.” They all did it; they removed the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from their hands and cast it in the form of a calf, shaping it with an engraving tool.

The people responded with (interest ) or enthusiasm:

“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!”

5  Aaron, taking in the situation, built an altar before the calf.

Aaron then announced, “Tomorrow is a feast day to God!”

6  Early the next morning, the people got up and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings and brought Peace-Offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink and then began to party. It turned into a wild party!

7–8  God spoke to Moses, “Go! Get down there! Your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have fallen to pieces. In no time at all they’ve turned away from the way I commanded them: They made a molten calf and worshiped it. They’ve sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are the gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.

I would call this Aaron crash for his high with God.

This is not the only story in the Bible were someone has these high with God and then crash and does their own thing.

Intense moments are great to have but the truth is the consistency beat intensity any day.

We love going to camp and back in the day people use to have revivals we would see so many intense moments at these place, but what happen when people get up from the altar after all the intense is gone?

What an act of mercy for God to allow Aaron and his crew to eat with Him. Can you imagine? Aaron was the priest.

How important was this meal in preparation for what Aaron (and his sons) would be called to do for the rest of his life!!

We have to take those intense moments and create consistent out of them with God.

Being consistent with God is how we grow as disciples

Story about people trying to get teens in camp.

The websit is down un NO it closed!

Because I have a relationship with some people that work at other churches I was getting phone calls and texts for me to reopen the registration and let a teen in to camp.

It’s easy to think that I might be more flexible because they know me more then other people.

We can sometimes think because we have relationship with God that we only need to meet him in our intense moment.

There no need to have consistency with God, but this relationship with God is the last place to have flexible.

This is a relationship that that has real responsibility.

We want to love in the way God is calling us and for that to happen we have to be growing all the time.

Show up in the your relationship with God is important. There is true consistency is just showing up for God.

I am not talking about showing up for church that is a given.

In fact if you don’t have consistency outside this church with God then Sunday mornings are your intense moments.

Kid , teen and people in the Bible are not the only one who have big interest moments

and never have show consistency with God,.

This sermon is not just about Teenagers!

Show up for God in prayer and getting into his word.

Need help with this?

let us help you.

I would have loved to have what this church is offers!

We want to help help grow in Christ

Kelsey Talked about this last Sunday

We can’t have the cycle without growing i Jesus first!

A disciple is someone who show up consistently to their faithfulness

When we are consistent with God

there are still intense moments happing with God which are good!

I had so many teen say I want to go to NYC to get close to Jesus

I was able to tell them that can start today!

Be consistent with Jesus now so that

intense moment at NYC can be apart of your.

Consistency With Jesus!!

Consistency beats intensity every time!

It the small gain that we have with the Holy Spirit when no one is watching

that help us grow into christlike disciple

Jesus is willing to show up and meet you every day.

We have free will and no one is going to make be consistent

But just remember that Jesus is consistent in show up and waiting for you.

When you start a relationship with God

AKA a covenant with God

you are committing to Him and his word

Jesus tell us

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Non of us will ever be perfect when it comes to growing in Jesus

but we all can be consistent with Jesus and the commitment we have said yes to.

Paul talk about wanting to be consistent with the Lord,

but struggling with doing what is not of the Lord

Romans 7:15–16 (The Message): “What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise.

So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it,

it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.”

The minute you decide to be consistent with Jesus

You are going to have some kind of obstacle pop that is going to make it seen to hard to do

One of the things could be a lack of support

I know I have felt that in my left.

You know where I grew up it wasn’t full of a lack of support!

Jesus is asking us to show up day after day in all circumstances .

Not ever day feel like a day to show up.

Don’t confuse being consistent with being perfect!

Going to be days we don’t show up and we forget!

Keep in mind that we are transformed when show up

regardless of how we are feeling that day.

We just can’t always rely on intensity and even passion because it’s eventually let us down

we have to put the work in to see the transformation.

Intensity and passion just get Us started

This has been hard for myself to be consistent at the commitment I have made to the Lord or Follow him

“ I give my whole to honor this love”

There was a time that I could only commitment to the fact that I had commitment issues. Lol

I am learning to love the process that God has set before me.

You know how hard it was to show up in pray and reading the Bible after I found I was truly dyslexic.

I just couldn’t understand why I was called to be a pastor if I can’t read And write a well as most people.

I think I don’t want to be consistent with you Jesus because this is hard for me!

What take most people 15min takes me 2 hours!

But!

Look on that student’s face when I told her I was dyslexic

and struggle with ADHD

And that I am consistently seeking Jesus.

With this ADHA

was worth the process

It was wroth all the consistency I have put in with God.

Even if my consistency doesn’t look like other peoples.

Are intense moments might not

look like Aaron or David or my favorite Peters

Jesus saved Peter’s butt from drowning and he still strugged

WE are going to Struggle because we are human

But we have each other To help with that!

One my favorite Author’s Tara Beth Leach tell her

congregation. I need you and you need me and we need each other.

——That Band can head back up—

There is a temptation to wait for the next camp or NYC or even Sunday morning to have a moment with Gold

especially If we are finding ourself in the darkness.

We are so quick to forget what we learn in light when we are in the darkness

my favorite you tubers quote from Father Mike

“Consistency helps us remember in the darkness what we have learned in the light!”

Struggles happen and intense moments and prayer are needed, but consistency is need more!

With out intensity we wouldn’t know we needed consistency with Jesus

don’t confuse consistency with perfection

I am not asking you to walk on water I am asking to spend time with the One that can!